The team that everyone (including myself) had high expectations of, and then so quickly discarded is currently the hottest team in the National League. The Cubs have won 5 in a row and 8 of their last 10. How are they doing it?
It all started with the rain-shortened game last week in Pittsburgh. In that game, Alfonso Soriano went deep for the first time. He also hit a home run in the following game. Of course, Soriano is not the only reason for the Cubs success, but I think that it plays into it. It plays into it for even more than face value. I think the Cubs players were sitting around in the early season looking for Soriano to take the offense on his shoulders. That’s pretty silly for a team who features Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez in the 3 and 4 holes. It seems that Soriano is settling in and the offense is taking care of what they need to.
The pitching has also been a highlight in the last week. Jason Marquis and Ted Lilly have been welcome additions and have performed way better than I expected them to. And Rich Hill has blossomed into a solid number 2 starter. The bullpen is still shakey in the middle. I hope that Hendry will make some moves to shore that up as the season wears on.
With the April that the Cubs had, I’m glad to report that as of May 8, 2007, the Chicago Cubs are one game over .500. Now if Milwaukee will just come back to Earth a bit, this NL Central could be interesting.
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